Chapter 40 - To Keep You Quiet

Standing in front of the large building, Julie looked at the outer walls of the library. Some students walked past her to step inside, and some came out of the building. Since yesterday, she had been slightly worried about what Roman's reaction would be during their study session. But more than his actions, it was the reaction that he elicited in her, which brought a frown of worry on her face. 

But remembering their previous study sessions, where he had only focussed on teaching her, Julie stepped inside the library and made her way up the stairs with the textbook in her hand. 

When Julie reached the end of the racks, she noticed Roman was already sitting at the far end of the bench with his left hand resting on the railing. He had placed his ankle to rest on the other leg, looking at the people who were on the ground floor while chewing gum. As if sensing her presence, his head turned, and he looked at her. 

Remembering how he had pulled her chair near his in the lunchroom yesterday, she felt her resolve dissolve, and the nervousness creep in her mind. But this was not the time to be scared! Julie tried to encourage herself. 

"You are early," she commented, walking towards the table that he had pulled out, and she placed her bag on top of it. 

"Or maybe you were late," remarked Roman, moving himself to come to sit in the chair in front of the table. "I was sure you were going to skip today's session."

"Why would I do that? I am here," stated Julie, not breaking eye contact.

Roman tilted his head to the side, and he said, "You stood there at the front of the library for far too long."

"Oh, that," Julie smiled before pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I thought I forgot something back in my dorm." 

"Hm. Was it courage?" he questioned her.

"It was my sanity," replied Julie, and she noticed a faint smile on Roman's lips that intrigued her. 

Roman continued to humour her with the question, "Did you find it?" Julie nodded her head. "Don't worry if you lose it, all of us here are partly or completely insane."

Julie slid into her seat in front of him and found something was very different about Roman's clothing style today. Instead of his regular t-shirts, he wore a dark grey shirt and three buttons at the top were left unbuttoned, revealing part of his chest. He had rolled the long sleeves right below his elbows. 

His dishevelled hair made it seem as if he had made out with a girl before Julie had come here. Her curious eyes didn't stop, and it fell on his chest where she caught sight of tattoos peeking out. 

Why was he dressed like this?! Asked Julie in alarm. 

Her gaze slowly moved back to look into his black eyes. Was he testing her over the conversation they had yesterday? She softly gulped and tried to concentrate on what he just said. 

Julie found it extremely hard to say the next words because of his distracting attire. She finally uttered, "Are you saying you are insane?"

Roman's eyes were on hers as if he was looking through her. Uncrossing his leg, he leaned forward to place his hands on the surface of the table. With that single action, Julie felt her heart skip a beat, and one corner of his lips pulled up. 

"I lost my sanity long ago. I believe many here have too, you would be surprised," remarked Roman, and he noticed her turning curious over his words. 

He told it as if it was normal, but there was always a pivoting point for people to step from losing their sanity.

"When was that for you?" Julie asked him, her brown eyes taking in his serious face, but his eyes held a sliver of mischief in them. 

"Wouldn't you want to know," and Roman tapped his finger on the textbook that she had placed on the table as if telling her to open it so that they could start today's lesson. 

Pulling out the required things on the table, Julie kept her bag down before opening the book. During the time Roman taught her with his eyes on the book, Julie's eyes wandered up to his arm that had the tattoos. Her eyes caught sight of nerves, making her wonder if he regularly worked out.

While Julie solved some of the questions Roman had written down for her, she noticed him pull out the manuscript of the play that he had brought with him, and his eyes raked through it. It looked like he was memorizing the lines. So Roman Moltenore wasn't purely gifted, and like her and others, he had to put effort, thought Julie in her mind. 

With the way he spent most of his time with his friends or mysteriously able to get out of the campus of Veteris in his motorcycle, Julie had been sure that this senior boy didn't need to study like others, which was why it felt good to see him reading the manuscript now. 

Roman raised one of his hands, bringing it to support the side of his head. It looked like he was thinking about something, and right now, he looked no less to a model-

"Neither my face is a textbook nor that has answers, Winters. Eyes back on your notebook," said Roman and Julie's eyes moved back to her book. 

"Why are you… dressed differently today?" asked Julie, and when she looked back at him, she saw his wrist drop that was holding the manuscript. 

"Why? Is my unbuttoned shirt bothering you?" questioned Roman with a dare.

Maybe…? said Julie. 

"I was just wondering if you decided to change your appearance. Curiosity," added Julie before she went back to solving the questions when she heard Roman say,

"Ms. Piper wanted me to wear a shirt today for the measurements for the clothes that will be needed to stitch for the play before I came here. This material is stuffy as fuck, and I needed some air."

Ah, so that was why, thought Julie to herself. She then asked, "But, you wear a leather jacket…"

"Do you know my body better or I? 

"You," replied Julie.

Not speaking another word, Julie looked at her book. But her words had given Roman an opening, and he asked, "Do you prefer me with a t-shirt?"

Julie raised her head, reacting with, "Huh?"

"Because it is too distracting for you to concentrate," responded Roman. "Not everyone can handle looking at such things. Especially not virgins."

"For your record I have seen plenty. There's something called Google," Julie lifted her chin as if she was not an inexperienced or an unknowledgeable girl. 

"What a pervert to be ogling at men's pictures," said Roman, and he shook his head as if he was disappointed with her. 

Yes, she had seen the pictures on the internet, but it wasn't like she had fantasized about them, thought Julie to herself with a frown. "Nothing you wouldn't have done while looking at girls," she muttered under her breath, but Roman clearly heard it. 

"I prefer mine to be live. In my company than behind a screen. You know that," there was a faint smirk on his lips, and Julie shook her head. "Tell me, Winters. Have you at least kissed someone until now?"

Julie shook her head, "I haven't," and the action made her glasses slide down her nose. With the back of her hand, she pushed it up. 

In the past, Julie had never found an opportunity to get close to a guy. There was a senior whom she believed to be cute, but not soon Natalie started dating him for a short period before she had turned the way she was right now. Later on, whenever a guy tried to approach her, it was only to pull and push her into the janitor's room, where she was left alone in the dark. And it was the only attention she had received. 

Even though Roman sat in front of her, unconsciously, her eyes fell on the palm of her hand where she often dug her nails into. 

Julie wondered when she had started it, to protect her mind from the fear it felt. But there were times when she wondered if it was something she had developed years before being bullied.

"A pity," commented Roman, breaking her trail of thoughts from her past, and she looked back to meet his eyes. 

"I am not desperate to be kissed," she lightly pouted before adding, "When it happens it will happen." 

"Interesting that your first kiss will be on the stage," commented Roman and hearing this, Julie's cheeks tinted pink.

"I-I don't think that would be needed. I am sure it is only to make the audience believe that the couple is kissing," Julie tried to explain, looking away from him.

Roman noticed the way she turned ruffled at the thought of having to kiss him on the stage and in front of everyone. "Did you think this is a movie where your camera tricks will work to make people believe? This is stage."

Julie had believed that there wouldn't be actual kissing on the stage, and they would only make people believe it. Taking the manuscript, she read the scene once again before pursing her lips. 

"I will discuss to Ms. Piper about it. I am sure she will come up with some alternative plan," said Julie. She didn't want to be one more girl added into Roman's list of girls whom he had kissed. 

"Good luck with that," said Roman as if he knew how that would go with her and Ms. Piper. 

Nervousness slipped into Julie's skin. 

Conner had mentioned it, but she had failed to inquire about the details of how far Ms. Piper would take her play and its characters. She noticed Roman had gone back to reading the manuscript, and she wondered if it didn't bother him to kiss a random girl, someone he had no feelings for. 

Considering he had asked her something not related to the subject, Julie decided to ask him, "How many girls have you kissed until now?"

"Don't remember," came the nonchalant words from Roman without looking at her. 

"Meaning, you had many girl friends?" she asked with her eyebrows raising with curiosity in her eyes. 

"I don't do the concept of girlfriends. They get clingy and it is too much of a hassle later," remarked Roman, turning to the next page. "Now get back to finishing your work."

Julie didn't pay heed to Roman's words, and she continued, "Isn't it better to have just one pero-"

Roman's hand swept the things that were on the table to fall to the side with a clatter. He pushed the movable table back to its original place in the wall and leaned forward with nothing between them now.

"You have a hard time listening, don't you?" he asked. Julie was glued to her seat without moving an inch, not knowing what happened. Did she disturb his reading? "Did you pause my reading because you want to practice the kiss scene with me? Let's practice then."

Julie started to cough as if something started to itch in her throat. She said, "I am fine, I haven't finished studying Rubix yet."

Instead of listening to her, Roman raised his manuscript for her to take. He wasn't serious, was he?

"What if Ms. Piper decides to change the scenes, it would be a-" Julie tried to change his mind, but he wasn't having any of it.

"Ms. Piper won't do anything like that." Placing both his hands on the sides of her chair, he said, "I am sure you know how important a kiss is in a play. Some of them even come to just look at it and we don't want it to be disappointing now, do we?" he asked her. 

And then he pulled her chair towards him in a way where he had moved both his legs apart to make space for her. 

"I-I haven't prepared my mind for it," she blurted.

"Don't worry about that. It is a surprise kiss scene, it is just perfect where you don't have to be prepared," when Roman said this with a glint of evilness in his eyes. She should have known that his patience was ice thin that ran out quickly. Since she was a girl, he couldn't hit her, and instead, he had decided to punish her this way! 

"Scared?"

"Of course, not!" replied Julie, not trying to be intimidated by Roman's presence. 

"Good," remarked Roman, the corner of his lips pulling up.

"Did you decide what costume you are wearing for Halloween? I have some recommendations like Hulk or maybe pointy ears with a trident would do well," she blabbered before saying. "You know we can just try and see if we can make the no kiss to kiss believable-"

"Come hither, dear," Roman said those words in a whisper as he angled his face, making her gulp. 

Before their faces could get nearer for a kiss, Julie felt her nose tingling, and she sneezed, "Achoo!" and in the process, she ended up banging her head with Roman's head.